OPINION: Burgermeister de Blasio Falls Flat in Hamburg

New York’s mayor was in Germany to attend a socialist gathering protesting President Trump and the city’s famously self-assured punditacracy can’t fathom why in the world he went.

Is Comrade de Blasio looking to become a burgermeister? Want some sauerkraut and beer with his Brooklyn wurst? Did he go to enjoy an original Beethoven production? Did he want to support the police in Hamburg?

Or, as many allege, the mayor is cynically using Trump to set himself up as some sort of global progressive leader. He’s failed spectacularly at home so why not head off to friendlier pastures, where the press doesn’t ask pesky questions, the politicians aren’t seeking to cut you off, the police like you and the people — yeah, the people, “we do it all for the people,” as de Blasio explained his decision to gun up his gas guzzling SUV 12 miles every day to exercise at his favorite Park Slope gym.

In New York City his approval rating is so low outside the black and Hispanic constituencies he doesn’t even try catering there anymore. On the state level he’s confronted wherever he goes by his foolish effort in 2014 to actively campaign and fundraise against the GOP Senate majority.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still raging at de Blasio’s 2015 press conference saying he has a “vendetta” against anyone who goes against him. While the assertion is true, mayors are supposed to swallow the insults and continue lobbying for their city. Cuomo has invited himself to become a city of refuge for the many opponents of the mayor — the police and fire unions gravitate toward his fire, charter schools see him as a fellow warrior, and it is well-known among organizations in the state that a surefire method of getting the governor’s attention is by lobbing a hardball at the mayor.

It is no exaggeration to say that de Blasio is universally despised. He has about as much chance of getting the federal government to pay for his educational and security ideas as the feds will pay for the border wall with Mexico. Ditto for the state.

So why not fly off on an all-paid-for joint to the People’s Republic of Hamburg, a socialist state where comrades understand each other?

De Blasio knew he was getting himself into a mess. He didn’t inform the press of his departure until hours before, did not post any pictures of himself at the demonstration, and ignored a New York Post reporter’s questions when confronted in Germany.

A WalletHub study out just this week named New York on its list of top 10 worst-run cities in the nation. A police officer was just killed. He’s two months before a reelection primary.

Until Saturday, it was unheard of for an American politician to criticize the president overseas. Politics stops at the water’s edge. In de Blasio’s case, it reached all the way to Rhine. Forget mere criticism — what the mayor did was take off a pivotal weekend in the city to travel overseas to address a crowd of Trump-bashing, capitalist-hating burgers.

Was war der Bürgermeister in Hamburg?

The answer, of course, is simple. He has no credible challengers in November who are resonating with voters. He’s relying on the fact that you, the voters, don’t care.